When
Bush coined the phrase "axis of evil" to describe the nuclear aspirations
of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, he was accused of trying to justify his
Iraqi excursion and further, of trying to bait both Iran and North Korea.
Furthermore, the Democratic leadership accused Bush of trying to push
Iran over the brink so that he could expand his Iraqi excursion to include
Iran�and perhaps Syria.

With
Bush's "axis of evil" allegation came denials from the Iranians who
insisted they had no nuclear weapons aspirations. Iran�a nation with
enough oil to light up every corner of their nation with cheap electricity,
insisted their efforts to enrich uranium were centered on creating cheap
nuclear energy so their oil could be sold to their neighbors.

A
report released last week by the International Atomic Energy Agency
[IAEA], while circumstantial, includes information on Iran's guided
missile program and work that has been completed in Iran on what is
construed to be a nuclear warhead for the Shahab-3 missile.

An
anonymous Bush Administration official told Bill Gertz of the Washington
Times that "...[i]n terms of Iran's pattern of behavior, it's a very
clear picture that they are hiding and deceiving the world about their
nuclear arms program by claiming it is for peaceful purposes. They have
clearly lied, and they keep getting caught in one lie after another."

However,
when you have agendized liberals in Congress and antiwar organizations
like MoveOn.org, Code Pink, Not In My Name and Not In Our
Name insisting that the Iranians are telling the truth and the Bush
Administration is trying to expand his Iraqi war into both Syria and
Iran, the liberal smoke and mirrors muddies the truth and divides the
nation between those who believe one side over the other.

However,
data retrieved from an Iranian official's laptop computer that was secured
by US intelligence revealed that from 2001 to 2003 the Iranian military
was trying to redesign the Shahab-3 to expand its 620-mile range to
reach targets in Europe. The documents on the laptop show details of
the redesign efforts and the development of what, in terms of shape
and size, could only be nuclear warhead prototypes. Further, the data
verifies that the Iranians were actual developing the weapons systems.
It was not a hypothetical exercise by a starry-eyed nuclear bomb visionary.�it
was a plan in motion.

Administration
officials told the Washington Times that the data on the laptop
was different from the nuclear weapons data that Iran obtained from
Pakistan. The documents revealed that Pakistani arms dealer Dr. Abdul
Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, supplied nuclear
enrichment technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Also on the computer
were Chinese language instructions on how make nuclear warheads small
enough for missiles�or to fit in suitcases. Khan is now under house
arrest in Pakistan.

Khan's
participation in the nuclear bomb black market was revealed by a Sri
Lankan, Buhary Sayed Abu Tahir who was taken into custody in October,
2003. Tahir was arrested shortly after Italian coast guard cutters pulled
alongside a German-flagged Chinese merchant ship bound for Libya and
found approximately 10,000 P-2 gas centrifuges designed specifically
for making nuclear weapons. (It was this discovery, and the arrest of
Tahir, that forced Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi to finally admit
he had been trying to build a nuclear bomb. To keep Stealth fighter-bombers
from paying him another visit, Qadhafi renounced his WMD program in
December, 2003.)

Most
Pakistanis believe Khan is a brilliant scientist who designed the first
Islamic nuclear bomb. In point of fact, Khan worked for the Dutch firm,
Urenco, in the 1970s as a research scientist with access to the
blueprints for the Dutch uranium enrichment technology. He copied the
blueprints and brought the technology back to Pakistan. Even though
Khan is under arrest, the government of Pakistan has refused to allow
any western intelligence people to interrogate him. During the past
decade captured documents reveal that Khan met with the leaders of Algeria,
Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, North Korea, Sudan�and
our closest Arab ally, Saudi Arabia.

Tahir
used a publicly-traded Malaysian engineering company called Scomi
Precision Engineering to manufacture the centrifuge components he
needed. The components were then shipped to Tahir's computer software
company, SMB Computers in Dubai, where the final leg of the delivery
to Libya was arranged. Also found in the documents were reports dating
back to the 1970s and 80s detailing how Iran, working through the Khan
network, obtained diagrams showing how to convert enriched uranium into
nuclear warheads.

For
much of the last year, the United States and England have pushed the
UN to get forcibly involved in demanding that Iran dismantle the uranium
enrichment facilities they have built near Parchin, Hamsin, Towchal
and Tehran�or suffer the consequences. The United States and England
have proposed resolutions that would allow a military solution if Iran
fails to get out of the nuclear bomb business. For most of that time,
Tehran has relied on Beijing and Moscow to run interference with the
UN, insisting that Iran is not, nor ever was, engaged in the business
of nuclear bomb building. Helping them by applying pressure on the Bush
Administration are the the same antiwar liberals in Congress and in
the media who want Israel to give up their land to the Palestinian terrorists
and who turned tail and ran from Vietnam, letting 55,000 American soldiers
die in vain.

Now
that the evidence that the Arab nations in the Mideast have been trying
to develop nuclear weapons can no longer be disputed by intelligent
minds, the Russians have pretty much been obligated to publicly support
efforts by the United States and European Union to push Iran to agree
that Tehran will not create weapons grade yellowcake. A plan was advanced
in the last few weeks that would transfer all Iranian enrichment programs
from Iran to Russia�with Russian scientists in charge of enrichment
to make sure than the yellowcake created cannot be used in nuclear weapons.
Even though the evidence overwhelmingly supports the view that Tehran
is trying to create nuclear weapons, the Iranian government continues
to insist that it only wants to generate cheap nuclear power for electricity.

Gregory
Schulte, the US Ambassador to the IAEA, said that Iran lacks enough
"native" uranium to fuel even the smallest nuclear energy facility.
He noted, however, that as small as it is, the supply of uranium available
in Iran is sufficient to build a sizable stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, the former spokesman for National Council of
Resistance of Iran said in a press conference last week that he
has discovered a large-scale Iranian military nuclear weapons facility
concealed in a tunnel system near Khojir that was built with the help
of the North Koreans. The interlocking tunnel network of underground
laboratories and research labs cover an area approximately 4 miles wide
and 12 miles long. Schulte concluded that "...this is not the sign
of a peaceful program."

It
has been clear to the American intelligence community for quite some
time that the Muslim world is very secretly trying to develop an arsenal
of nuclear weapons that can be used against Israel and, if needed, against
the industrialized nations�particularly the United States. There is
little doubt that Iraq, like Libya and Iran, was trying to develop nuclear
weapons when American forces struck on March 20, 2003. It is likely
that as the American troop build-up began, Saddam ordered whatever contraband
weapons he had in his arsenal, or those he was working on, transferred
to either Syria or Iran�or to both for safe keeping until the war was
over. Saddam likely believed that when the war ended he would still
be in power, as he was in 1991.

With
the arrests of Kahn and Tahir the military intelligence agencies of
the European Union and the United States have slowed down the black
market trade of both the components needed to build centrifuges and
the fissionable material needed to produce yellowcake. However, as long
as there is a demand for nuclear weapons�and those seeking fissionable
material have the money to buy yellowcake, black market suppliers will
find ways to make the sale.

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Sooner
or later, if they have not yet done so, the Wahabbi terrorists, or those
who supply them, will get their hands on a nuclear devise. When they
do, the people of the world�most of whom believe that wars are always
fought only between nations�will realize that a group of Islamic extremists
declared jihad�a Holy war�on the entire world on September 11, 2001.

Jon Christian Ryter is the pseudonym of a former
newspaper reporter with the Parkersburg, WV Sentinel. He authored a
syndicated newspaper column, Answers From The Bible, from the mid-1970s
until 1985. Answers From The Bible was read weekly in many suburban
markets in the United States.

Today, Jon is an advertising
executive with the Washington Times. His website, www.jonchristianryter.com
has helped him establish a network of mid-to senior-level Washington
insiders who now provide him with a steady stream of material for use
both in his books and in the investigative reports that are found on
his website.

It
has been clear to the American intelligence community for quite some time
that the Muslim world is very secretly trying to develop an arsenal of
nuclear weapons that can be used against Israel and, if needed, against
the industrialized nations particularly the United States.